Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series had created some very high expectations for anime fans. From the sneak peeks, cast announcements, and trailers, everything was going its way. On top of this, the disappointingly low standard set by the 2010 film, made fans believe that there was nowhere to go but up. Unfortunately, they were deeply mistaken.
Upon its release, audiences loved the series in its entirety, with it having very good ratings on platforms like IMDb. Despite this, critics had a completely different reaction. Horrified at what they saw, the series created a new low for just how bad an adaptation can be for them. So much so, that their reviews about it, alone, can stop it from getting another season.
Critics Trash On Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action Adaptation
More than a handful of reviews have covered the subject of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, considering just how high-profile it is. Unfortunately, however, a majority of these critics are ripping the series to shreds. There have been many aspects of it that spectators have not found up to the mark and they have not sugarcoated their feelings in the slightest.
Aramide Tinubu from Variety was very candid with their feeling on the matter. They mentioned that the series felt like a performance rather than a story being told, finding had to immerse in the world. They added the cast of the series, though accurate when it comes to race, did not put on a good enough show and was pulling the viewer out of the series.
“While the show’s visuals and its Asian and Indigenous stars add authenticity to the series, the performances of the majority of the cast, no matter how earnest, don’t hold up to the weight of the narrative. “
The Verge, on the other hand, had completely different criticisms about the series, focusing more on the characters writing than the actors’ performance. It was mentioned by then that the series’ portrayal of specific characters felt a lot more two-dimensional compared to how they were in the anime.
“whereas cartoon Sokka’s obsession with battle readiness was tempered by a soft goofiness, Ousley portrays the character a bit straighter and stiffer — qualities that sometimes make him seem cold.”
They took the specific example of Sokka, who felt a lot more stiffer and rigid. They also mentioned Katara who was a bold and outspoken woman in the anime, and how power became the only focus of her character in the Netflix series.
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Compared With The 2010 film
Discussing Film took a completely different approach when it comes to its criticism of the new Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation. It focused on a comparison of the new Netflix series with the 2010 M. Night Shyamalan film that distressed fans for the foreseeable future. The review referred to the new series as being worse off than the highly disappointing film.
“feels like a show made by an algorithm catered to the kind of fans that hate filler and side stories in animation.”
They went as far as to say that the Shyamalan film was better as it finished a lot faster than the eight-episode series. They even criticized how the series had two themes that were creating internal conflicts; the darker elements that it introduced and the child-like feelings that the anime had. The Netflix series was finding it difficult to balance these two and it showed.
